Fakin' Feelings (Book Review: Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance, Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin)

Yes, I wanted to read something light, something fun, something i could just breeze through so I started reading "Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance," by Emily Franklin & Brendan Halprin.  Jenna and Jonah star in a family network sitcom, but they also have to pretend that they are dating off-screen to give their show and their characters a little more oomph. So I figured, the book would have those zany situations, like how are they going to hide their real feelings to protect their fauxmance? But the book is actually a little more than that. Around the beginning of the novel, their show gets cancelled and they have to deal not only with their fauxmance, but with their future as actors. And wait, is the fauxmance really faux? Do they really have feelings for each other? To further hammer the plot in our heads (as if we couldn't figure it for ourselves) the authors(s) device a plot intervention: to cast the actors in a Shakespeare festival, playing the will-they-or-won't-they characters Beatrice and Benedick from "Much Ado About Nothing." It all kind of works, and I like the fact that the book doesn't dumb down the audience. Sure, the whole thing is ultimately predictable, but the settings are not as. I liked it, and provided a much needed distraction. 

BC-12